Rebellion in Cromford
by poppy.ryder
Summary: In Cromford, Northern England, 1780 there lives a load of very poor families. One a poor little boy Bart goes stealing for his stealing family as the factory workers are paid very little money and not a proper wage, he is sent to prison. Many people from Cromford have been sent to Prison for stealing due to being in poverty. So Bart decides they should rebel.


Rebellion in Cromford

Chapter 1

Cromford, Northern England, 1780

Marge, Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie all set off for a days work in the cotton mill.

The greedy Seymour Skinner who cared about nothing but money more than his own worker or the cotton itself owned the cotton mill.

He lived in a lovely house with his widowed old mother on top of a hill away from the smoky Cromford industrial centre.

He was very snobby and didn't pay his workers a proper wage that was 5p a day but he only paid them 1p a week.

"I wish I could be educated like Reverend Lovejoy's daughter Jessica," sighed Lisa who was spinning cotton. Jessica Lovejoy had her own governess, she was said to be the most beautiful young woman in the county, and she had lots of toys and could play the piano beautifully.

Bart and his friend Millhouse had a crush on her. She even invited Bart as a playmate to her house once but her parents kicked him out after they found out he was a factory worker.

However because Lisa was from a poor family who didn't have the money to educate their children she had to work instead.

Lisa also worried about the factory not being safe enough as her friend Janey Powell had lost both her hands on bits of machinery. Janey became ill not long after that, she later died of typhus.

"Lisa honey I know it's hard but when father is out of prison things will be fine" Marge told her.

Homer who was the father of the family went to jail after shooting a rabbit with a cheap pistol for his family one Christmas.

However he got caught and was taken to a big jail. Where he missed his family dearly and was forced to do hard labor by the prison's master Mr. Burns, a cold selfish man.

That night at dinner Marge was going to cook the usual cabbage soup. That's all the Simpsons only ate, rabbit meat was a treat on Sundays and Christian holidays such as Christmas.

However tonight the cabbage had disappeared and so had the bread.

"I wonder who could have taken this, you're not playing with it any of you children are you?" Marge asked.

They shrugged their heads.

"Well I am sorry but were going to have to kill Santa's little helper"

"No you can't that's killing your own family," cried Lisa.

Santa's Little Helper was a stray dog that Bart found one day after Church and brought home. He soon became very close to the Simpsons. But now he had to be eaten.

I know thought Bart I will go out with Nelson, Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney and steal all the food we can find.

Bart slipped out of the open window behind Marge meaning she couldn't see.

He walked past the workers cottages and expected to find Jimbo, Nelson, Kearney and Dolph in the market square. He found them where he expected to.

"What the bloody hell do you want?" Nelson said punching Bart in the stomach, laughing.

"I was thinking can I join you, I need food for my family otherwise we have to kill our dog?"

"Oh all right then but you must not be a coward understand" sighed Jimbo.

"I understand"

"Well good then first we go to Apu's bakery for bread"

"When the loaf comes out the oven as soon as it does just swipe it then hide it somewhere. I hide it down my pants" said Nelson.

"I know what you mean, what are we waiting for" chuckled Bart.

Chapter 2

When they walked into the bakery. A meat pie had just been freshly maid and was lying there on the counter along with a loaf of bread. Bart quickly took it before anyone saw. The other boys stole bread as well.

He ripped off a bit off the bread, saving the rest for his family.

"Hello my little boy, you smell like you could do with a wash," said Apu.

"Hello there" Bart turned round. But Apu noticed the bread in his hands.

"You do realize you can go to prison for that," Apu yelled.

Bart did realize but he said "No".

"You will be put in a big horrible prison where you work long hours, get terrible meals and beatings," Apu said.

Constable Clancy Wiggum came in and said all the boys were under arrest.

"Bart, I told you to hide the food" barked Nelson.

They were, taken to a big bleak house known as St. Stevens Prison.

Homer was interned here along with Nelson's mother, she was sent to prison for pick pocketing Lady Krabappel when Nelson was a baby. Lady Krabappel was also Seymour Skinner's Fiancée. Other internees included Bart's Aunts Patty and Selma who stole a coat for their elderly mother who had pneumonia at the time and Bart's friend Millhouse who stole a handkerchief when he had catarrh.

Jimbo confessed to Bart that he stole the missing Cabbages from earlier, because the kitchen window was left open when the Simpsons were at work.

Bart went mad and started kicking Jimbo on the shin. But Jimbo punched and slapped him back.

"I hate you, you heartless wretch that was my families dinner, my baby sister Maggie could have starved to death. Luckily we had a dog that we could kill"

"Hey you two boys stop fighting" called Dorris the cook from the kitchen.

"Yes boys do behave" it was Mr. Burns the man in charge of St. Stevens Prison.

"Okay sir" quavered Bart.

"Now get to work you idle lazy vagabonds" Mr. Burns roared.

"I am really sorry Bart," cried Jimbo.

"I am sorry too"

"We all needed food for our families, if Skinner paid us proper wages we would be better off" Dolph's eyes were full of tears by now.

"Your right, we should rebel" Bart sighed.

"Get to work, start bashing the rocks" said Mr. Burns giving them a pick axe each.

At dinnertime Bart saw his father Homer, the two ran to one another and gave each other a hug.

"Why are you in here son?" cried Homer.

"It's a long story"

"Just tell me"

"Well I got caught stealing bread and a meat pie for the family, because someone stole our cabbage's and bread in the daytime. Everyone is stealing and that because Skinner is not paying proper wages so nobody can afford food".

"Son meet me on Sunday when we have free time and we will discuss how we can get out of this place and rebel against Skinner" said Homer.

The two met on the Sunday along with other prisoners who had also been jailed for stealing they would break out of the prison that night by smashing the windows with pix axes and torches in their hands, then climbing out of the windows, slaughtering cows to paint their faces red with blood, walking marching the way to Cromford, banging on factory workers houses to wake them up so they could the march that would lead to Skinner's house.

When this really happened on the day it went to plan and they walked up the hill to Skinner's house shouting

"We demand Workers Rights, we demand Workers Rights".

Stones were thrown at the master's window; him and his old widowed mother came out on to the balcony.

"What do you vagabonds want?" Seymour roared.

"Workers Rights hated up of being paid 1p a week. Change it to 5p a day" they screamed.

Seymour went silent.

"Maybe you should listen to the common people for once" whispered his mother.

Chapter 3

From then on Seymour paid money to make his factory safer, changed the wages to 7p a day, working hours became shorter with an hours break at lunch and nobody under the age of sixteen could work in the factory.

All the prisoners caught stealing for survival reasons would not be shipped to some penal colony thousands of miles away, instead Mr. Burns the prisons master died and his successor Waylon Smithers decided to set them all free.

At meal times factory-working families had better food to eat. Meat stews instead of watery cabbage soup for dinner on weekdays, bread and cheese at lunchtime instead of nothing and so the children looked a lot less malnourished.

The former factory-working children went to a school opened by Rev. Lovejoy that was free and the Reverend's wife Helen Lovejoy taught the children.

A young man called Otto volunteered to take the children to school by donkey cart, where they would all squish up in the back.

The Lovejoy's became a lot less snobbish, their daughter Jessica joined the school with all the other local children and she fell in love with Bart.

On the day of Seymour Skinner and Edna Krabapple's wedding, Bart promised Jessica that they would be married one day.

Jessica asked her father if she could to marry Bart when she got older.

"Well yes but I will have to kit him out for it. Bart will go to University to study what he pleases down in Oxfordshire, learn how to be a gentleman and then marry you"

"Thank you father, you're the best father on earth"

She said hugging him.

As Marge had slaughtered the dog when Bart ran off that day, the Lovejoy's replaced their dog with a lovely King Charles spaniel.

The End


End file.
